This week, around 2,000 cancer researchers, public health officials and cancer control experts from 120 countries will come together for the World Cancer Congress in Geneva, Switzerland. Convened by the Union for International Cancer Control (UICC), the multidisciplinary program highlights the latest successful interventions in cancer prevention, diagnosis, treatment and care.
New research led by the Daffodil Centre with international collaborators will be presented across several key sessions. This research is being conducted by the International Partnership for Resilience in Cancer Systems (I-PARCS) (formerly the COVID-19 and Cancer Global Modelling Consortium).
New work by I-PARCS collaborators to be presented at the conference include:
- The impact of COVID disruptions to colorectal cancer screening, diagnosis and treatment in Australia and Canada
- Global impact of disruptions to colorectal (bowel) cancer screening worldwide
- Risk of COVID-19 death for people with a pre-existing cancer diagnosis: a systematic review and meta-analysis
- The impact of the COVID-19 pandemic and vaccine and HPV test supply challenges on cervical cancer elimination.
Session on COVID-19 and impact on cancer services and outcomes worldwide
Daffodil Centre researchers with I-PARCS collaborators will also be supporting a special session on COVID-19 and impact on cancer services and outcomes worldwide. This session showcases the potential prioritisation and recovery strategies during and following the severe social and health services disruptions from the COVID-19 pandemic.
As part of the session, Professor Karen Canfell will present new findings for low-and-middle-income countries on the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic and vaccine/HPV test supply challenges. The new research underpins an understanding of the implications of such delays in the implementation of cervical cancer elimination, and the positive impact of various mitigation strategies that countries can now implement.
Planning for cervical cancer elimination – launch of a new tool to support policy and advocacy
As a special Spotlight presentation at the conference, Professor Karen Canfell with Dr Isabelle Soerjomataram from the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) will discuss a new Elimination Planning Tool for cervical cancer. This tool, developed as part of the work of I-PARCS, will be hosted by IARC as part of the Global Cancer Observatory. It will allow countries to understand the implications of various policy decisions towards achieving the cervical cancer elimination goals and targets. This tool can be used to effectively advocate for greater investment at a country, regional and international level towards implementation of cervical cancer elimination plans.
